Conservative Business

ObamaCare Eve

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on March 30, 2014
Posted in: Conservative Business, Conservative Principles, Social Conservative. Tagged: , , , . 1 Comment

On the Eve of yet another Obamacare delay I am trying to sort out what will happen to my personal insurance coverage and the coverage of our key employees when our group policy renews in May and beyond.

With over 100 employees, some 90 of which are part time now, my key employees, 18 including my wife and I are fairly safe in our current policy.

Thanks to the absurdity of the mandates and the multiple delays, we are able to keep our current plan as long as we make absolutely no changes to it. The economics for our employees in us keeping our group plan works out very well; this year we will see only a 10% increase so that the average healthy late 20 something probably will still pay less than $300 /month of which we pay half. Of the 18 full time employees, only about 9 or so take advantage of this plan either because they are cover by a spouse, parent or are immortal. So far so good, right? Not so fast.

While it works out great for our 20 something employees who are smart enough to take advantage of the benefit, not so much for my wife and I. Thanks to O’Care, we have a decision to make. As members of our covered group, my wife and I, her a cancer survivor, me with moderate respiratory issues pay a hefty $28,000/yr for coverage. It now appears if we abandon our employees to the exchange and take out personal policies for my wife and I we can reduce our premiums by right at $14,000 / year? No kidding.

Our employees however will probably face massive increases in their premiums on the exchange and may end up uncovered given the ridiculous penalties which make it cheaper to pay them then to buy insurance. As a company we not only would save the $14k, we would also save the 50% co pay we were making toward our employees coverage.

Aren’t we worried about losing our key employees?
No, everyone is doing the same thing.
What about the penalties?
Nah, we get a pass on the first 30 employees and thanks to careful management for the last year, only have 18 full time employees.

Now thanks to Obamacare, our company could effectively save $20,000 / year at the expense of our employees.

Will we take this seemingly selfish move?
Probably, $20,000 is a lot of money. The other downside however affecting more than just our employees is that politically it plays right into the Democratic end goal of moving everyone toward a single payer system which will be the ultimate disaster for our healthcare system. … Another unexpected but planned consequence of Obamacare.

But wait, there is more redistributive good news this week Comrades. I received my auto policy renewal. It was just about a 100% increase. I had a minor fender bender in December. Rear ended my wife. But that is another story. Anyway, I was shocked at the increase for a minor event. But I was then told by my agent that the massive increase had nothing to do with the accident I had had 3 months earlier.

So why the incredible spike in premium? Remember Hurricane Sandy last year? Seems that our state was selected for these premium increases to make up for the losses that were sustained in the Northeast. I am still trying to figure out if it is just my carrier or a governmental program affecting all carriers. But check your renewals. Not that you’re likely to miss a 100% increase.

I’ll let you know via twitter how it works out.

Education Cometh

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on September 19, 2013
Posted in: Conservative Business, Conservative Principles, Florida Politics, National Politics. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

We are small business people. We own 4 fast food restaurants, are part owners in a marketing company, are on the board of directors of a Medical products company and are community active. Altogether we have about 125 employees with roughly 100 of those between the ages of 20 and 35.

During the election of 2012, we tried to the best of our ability to educate these political neophytes on the importance of un-electing any and all socialists and the difficult times to come if we did not.

As evident as it was to those of us who garnered the experience of years what was to come, many of these, who would soon be in Obama’s middles class worker’s crosshairs possessed the apathy of innocence … And ignorance and the vast majority simply could not muster the interest to vote.

I have had the opportunity on several occasions when as an elder of this tribe I have been asked what was happening to pontificate that Elections have Consequences. The smug contentment of having an I told you so moment at their expense although momentarily satisfying has been fleeting.

Over the past few months we have been working our way through a very difficult task. That of telling our full time hourly employees that although we had been there for them as they built proficiency in a job, got married, bought their first home and some even started families, we were going to have to reduce their hours to below 30 in order to maintain the financial viability of the company and comply with the requirements of the ACA. It was hard. Some understood and were able to find outside part time work to make ends meet. Others simply had to leave us after years of service.

This month, we start the next phase of adding government insult to injury. Having to inform all of our employees that although most struggle now to make ends meet, they are going to be responsible for and required to purchase family insurance through the exchange or face the ridiculous burden of government imposed penalties. Gone is their freedom to choose how and when to protect their family. Gone is yet another sliver of liberty and one that imposes an unnecessary financial burden to their short adult lives. I struggle to not say, Elections have Consequences over and over, but do often, and prod them to not let another opportunity slip by without exercising their Constitutional right to vote to protect their freedom and personal interest. To read and study what they were never taught in school.

Even though we are a small business we have been forced to join the ranks of Darden, IBM, The Cleveland Institute and so many more who are making the tough choices of maintaining profitability to be able to continue to provide for their families and continue to provide jobs for their communities. The American working middle class is reluctantly shifting from 40 hour work weeks to 28 hour work weeks because this president has blindly and prejudicially inflicted undue and unnecessary hardship firmly on the middle class he duped into supporting his agenda of lies in 2012.

For those who voted for him, you reap what you sow. Oh well.

For those who did not vote, I hope this will be the most important and most expensive lesson of their lives.

One thing is Obvious to those of us over 40. History Does repeat itself and it always works out the same. The truly poor are always taken care of. The business owners and the rich, ALWAYS have options and ways to shelter their businesses and capital. The Working Middle Class are always the useful idiots. First and most easily duped or lulled into the utopian socialist hype and ALWAYS left holding the bag and paying the price. Thank God the government allowed their schools to teach history, civics and government when I attended, but political correctness and intended Social engineering has left the current generation woefully inept and incapable of seeing through the charade until it’s much to late and effects them personally. Well, unfortunately that time is here in January 2014. The clue train is pulling into the station.

If they don’t get it now, then to quote a great philosopher friend of mine, “We are So Screwed”

Start Now To Find Conservative Local Candidates For 2014

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on January 28, 2013
Posted in: Conservative Business, National Politics, Social Conservative. Leave a comment

Governmental overreach begins a lot closer to home than Washington DC.  In fact for a lot of DC legislators, local government, where many of them began, was an apprenticeship in governmental bloat.  For local politicians that need little more than popularity and a modest amount of cash to get elected, it’s easy to be caught up in the desire to be all things to all people. Especially at the local municipal level of government.   The ability to provide for people is a heady ego trip for the uninitiated which brings with it titles, perks, acknowledgement, and sometimes lucrative business opportunities.  Of course the local elected want that to continue; who wouldn’t?  So the desire and requests to do more things for more people bring closed the full circle and the steady growth of bureaucracy is maintained.

Now consider the two main tenants of local government; to provide basic services and to provide for life safety.  That means access to clean water, electricity, sanitation and police and fire services.  That rather falls nicely in line with a Conservative view of government and there is no legal requirement for government to do more.

That, however, is rarely enough.  As cities grow and mature so does the bloat, the bureaucracy, and the drain on the taxpayers.

My city, a well run financially solvent organization, does all of the following in excess of their primary two required objectives.   As a result the citizens are taxed accordingly for the laundry list of services that should rightfully be left to the financial responsibility of HOAs and other community, non government organizations that citizens affected elect to belong to.

For clarity and understanding, add the words “…for which they need government employees and a tax payer funded budget” after each of the following and you will begin to see the problem with local government bloat:

  • Maintain an award winning Parks Department
  • Maintain an award winning Senior Center
  • Maintain a Civic Center for local events
  • Maintain Manicured street and highway medians
  • Host special community events, parades and street parties many times per year complete with fireworks
  • Police a very draconian city wide parking ordinance
  • Maintain a very draconian esthetic compatibility ordinance for anyone wanting to improve their homes or property.
  • Maintain a very restrictive Arbor program
  • Maintain a restrictive Sign ordinance that hinders business
  • Provide reduced cost meals to Seniors and Students
  • Provide Youth Summer Camp
  • Provide lucrative economic incentives for business

And the list goes on.

Some of these ‘amenities’ have come about because residence looked to the city to be their de facto HOA.   Some because a particular developer or business sold the city on an idea.   But all of them happened because an elected official wanted to do more things for more people, to make themselves more popular or to spread the wealth.  Isn’t tax money free money after all? (Especially if it’s not mine?)

There were times not so long ago where it was difficult for local governments to spend all the money that was coming in. It made bloat easy and it didn’t seem so bad.  But rising costs and falling property values are no longer keeping up with the increasing demands of a local population who are used to great parks, social events, and parades on the public dime.  It’s not that local government has become as bloated as DC.  It always has been.   Think about how much the average tax burden might be reduced if government did what it was supposed to and no more.

So with just two years to go before the next election and less than a year before many municipalities see the start of their local campaign seasons, what is the solution?

We should take a page out of the GOOOH Party (Get Out Of Our House Party) play book.

  • Form grass roots organizations now to seek out candidates you can believe in and who believe in the ideals above and then support them with your time and treasure.
  • Make every candidate for municipal office sign a contract with the people, in the media and put it out in the public domain that they pledge to uphold the fiscal responsibility of small government.
  • Make them commit to having the fortitude to say no, even if it means not getting re-elected.
  • Say No to special interest
  • Say No to fulfilling roles not clearly defined in the Charter
  • Push back into the communities what is theirs to deal with and leaving to the marketplace what the free market does best.
  • Make them know that each term is dependent on their performance to their pledge.
  • And elect qualified Conservatives who will serve with their honor and integrity intact.

That is how real hope and change are made.

Government works best that is closest to the people, the smallest size possible, and which taxes people the least.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Payroll Department

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on January 11, 2013
Posted in: Conservative Business, National Politics, Social Conservative. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

We tried throughout last summer and heading into both the Primary and General election season to inspire our crew to get involved and explain to them how important this election was.   Through one on one meetings and in group settings we talked about the impact to business, our business, whenever we could.  Ultimately we were unable to breakthrough the superficial and fabricated Obama Cool Factor coupled with relentless attack media, widespread coverage of Occupy, and promises of free everything.   But we were also facing something much worse.

We are in the hospitality business and as such our 100 member crew is made up almost entirely of 20 some things with a few early 30s on our management team.  After employing this age group of young people for nearly 8 years, I now hold a tremendous fear for our nation in the next 2 decades. I have never seen a more politically apathetic and ignorant demographic than the broad – of 20 something society that we employ.

Almost every one of our employees would be a perfect fit for the next edition of Jay Walking.

They don’t know the ideological differences between the parties, the members of the cabinet, who their representatives are, or even any of the issues currently facing our country.  This broad spread ignorance is not segregated by race, economic status, gender or even education.  We have college educated 30 year olds who are neither registered to vote or even watch the news.

It is a frightening prospect.

Earlier this week something happened that made me wonder against my will if Obama might not be the best thing to happen to our young adults in quite a while.  Coming from a parental culture of being coddled, catered to, and told how special they are, they truly believe that if they do nothing, the world will continue to revolve around them.  The raw idiocy of the Occupy Movement is a window, albeit at a much more perverse level, into this entitlement mentality that has so warped this generation’s perception of reality and their own self-importance.   Despite my wife and my best efforts, even offering to take many of them to register and to the polling place, many of those in our employ did not vote, saw no point, didn’t understand and worse simply did not care because the world would always take care of them because they are special.

That is why this week is was with a certain amount of smug satisfaction amidst my own personal dismay at the election that “A Teaching Moment”  came into my life.  One of our General Managers who manages a million dollar line of business for us, 31 years old and who “Never found the time” to vote, came to my office and said, “Did you see what happened to our paychecks?  Did you get hit like this too or are you just passing it onto us?”

I could not help but chuckle at him and didn’t try real hard not to.  “Yes, we got hit with it,” I told him sarcastically, “ but I would pass it all onto you if I could.  In spite of being told how important this was, you in particular, who we offered to take to the polling place, didn’t vote.  You deserve to pay all of it.  See, your President doesn’t need your vote anymore, so he allowed this “Tax Holiday” to expire, (I had to explain that to him), but this is just the beginning.  I would be prepared to see your take home pay drop by $3500 this year, and to whatever extent I can, I will be passing my share onto you through eliminating salary increases, restructuring hours and headcount,  and reducing or eliminating many benefits.  You didn’t vote and most of your associates voted for a false persona, a charlatan, and a Socialist, without knowing the facts, doing the research and thinking that it was just going to affect “The Rich”, like me.   But it’s not, and it never does.  And it won’t affect any smart small business owner to the extent that it will affect their employees.  Oh, and wait until you see what we have to do to get around Obamacare! Plan on having to go healthcare shopping as we reduce all of our hourly staff to 28 hours and terminate our program on the remainder who fall within the grace number.  I’ll be putting the money I would have paid toward half your premiums toward the increased Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid taxes I’ll be paying.”

He looked shocked and muttered, “This just sucks”.

I almost smiled when I replied, “Elections have Consequences.   Don’t be so Stupid next time”

Lesson 1 over.

I will not be a Racist , I will not be a Racist, I will not ….

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on December 11, 2012
Posted in: Conservative Business, National Politics, Social Conservative. Leave a comment

I will not be a Racist , I will not be a Racist, I will not ….

I admit it.  I almost fell into the trap of thinking I was the problem.  If I listen to the media for more than an hour, I can easily convince myself that I am a racist and solely responsible for keeping others down.  That I through my conservative viewpoints and beliefs am the cause of great racial and financial divides. That it is I who force those “oppressed” to commit street crimes and violent crimes and somehow must share in the guilt and great shame of our fathers simply for being a successful conservative.

HOGWASH !

I refuse to play any longer.  I say to all my friends and colleagues, “STANDUP !”.  I hereby refuse to be guilty.  I will not be the target of your guilt deflected admonitions. I will no longer hide my success, and I will no longer try to make you not feel so bad about your failures.

For far too long, successful conservative business people of all races have been the target of the envious, lazy, and nefarious who hold us up as the cause of their inability to reap the great fruit of opportunity.   Far too often we have fallen victim to the charade being perpetrated by the left that somehow our drive for success is greed and our achieved success immoral.   Nothing could be more insipid in thought and more damaging when we buy into it and let it fester.

Recently, you may also have noticed that besides being greedy, criminal, unethical, and immoral, that every successful businessperson is now racist.  That term, once reserved for the most vile of the anti civil rights segregationists, now gets thrown around so often that it has lost its meaning and now even sounds petty when bantered about on national TV.   We now look at the user of the term as being juvenile, paranoid and using the term to hide their own shortcomings.  Where once the term racist when properly applied would destroy careers, so it is now that I, a second generation American of immigrant grandparents, who owns an ethnic business run by a team of mostly Hispanics and African Americans, am called a racist.

No where is this misuse more orchestrated, premeditated and tactically prevalent than in the national political discussion.  The left has adopted the term and integrated “Racist” into every aspect of their political policy.  We cannot question our African American Attorney General regarding people murdered under his watch in two countries due to his incompetence and failed policies, because to do so is racist.  We cannot suggest that the President’s Socialist, Marxists Agenda will certainly and severely damage our republic before the end of his 2nd term because it would be racist to bring it up.   We cannot question the motives of our UN Ambassador who covered up the murders of 4 members of our diplomatic corps in Libya, or question that Van Jones an avowed communist was ever let into the administration, or question why Val Jarret, a civilian friend of the President has Secret Service protection on our dime.  We cannot question the morals of Jessie Jackson, the integrity of Al Sharpton, repulsive musings of Louis Farrakhan or any of the unanswered and potentially criminal questions hanging over this Presidency and those who publicly support it, or we are called Racists.

And we are called Racist by collectively the most publicly bigoted group of American leaders in our history.

Well I’ve had enough.  Its my quest for the American Dream makes me work hard, not greed.  My desire to reap the rewards of my efforts without government intervention and to be able to provide opportunity for others drives my success, and that is not immoral.  I will no longer allow you to label me, detract from my accomplishments, or derail my enthusiasm for capitalism and the free economy.  I will not buy in to the call for me to willingly share my wealth with the lazy, the cheaters of the system, the chronically unemployed, those who abuse the unemployment system, abuse our safety nets, and live as parasites off my success out of fear that I might be labeled a racist.  Go Label Me!  And that YOU labeled me will be a badge I will proudly wear.

I am not naive. I have no doubt that what I do not give up willingly, you will steal from me before this is over either through taxes, regulation, mandates or fines.  But it will be a tough fight.  In the meantime,  I will proudly work night and day for every dime I earn, provide opportunity for others, contribute instead of take from the economy and be happy for the opportunity to do so in the America of my dreams.  It would be so much better if you would stop calling names and hiding behind labels and join me in an honest days work.

Dear Willing to Work, Where Are You ?

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on December 8, 2012
Posted in: Conservative Business. Leave a comment

I am always dismayed by the unemployment numbers and the drama that surrounds the chronically unemployed. The mainstream news nightly plays up the plight of the unemployed, supporting the President and the Left’s push for increased entitlements and benefits for those who are held up as being victims of the conservative system.

In response to the daily barrage of news stories covering the plight of the unemployed I have a question. Where are You?

I say that not out of ignorance but from a perspective of a job creator. My company employs about 120 individuals and we have been in business since 2003. So to the unemployed desperately seeking employment but unable to find work, I ask you. Where are you hiding?

Being in the hospitality industry as we are means high turnover and a constant list of open positions. Over the course of the last several years our total annual employment (W2s) has hovered between 200 and 300 employees in a combination of part time and full time jobs. All of these positions are not transient. Of the 120 positions we have about 40 full time employees among our hourly employee ranks and roughly 17 in our full time salaried management company. ( Like every other business our size, that of course will change this year thanks to Obama Care ) But that is the way it has been. We have about 40 employees who have been with us more than 2 years. So in addition to an opportunity to work we also provide the opportunity for longevity and advancement as all of our 17 managers have worked themselves up through the ranks. And we pay fairly well for our industry with tipped employees making minimum wage plus tips, ( averaging $13 to $15 per hour and other positions paying as high as $15 / hour. Our management team salaries range from $32,000 to $60,000.

From time to time for compliance purposes I review the applications and resumes that come in. Hundreds per year. I am continually shocked that none of these applications, not some, or a few, virtually none come from individuals who have been unemployed for considerable periods of time. None. I have had meetings with my management teams who have confirmed to me what I have found. None.

So again I have to ask. Where are you? If you want employment, we have jobs. If you want to make more than minimum wage, can read, follow direction, show up on time and communicate well, we have jobs. So where are you? The media informs me nightly that you are legion; vast populations in my community of downtrodden, beaten up by the system of which I am a part and somehow responsible, destitute, struggling to put food on the table for your families. Where are you? Why in 8 years have you not shown up at my door ready to work?

I think the answer now that the election is over is uncomfortable.

I believe most of you exist or cease to exist by political whim and snap into existence when it pleases the court of public opinion by whichever side needs to make a point for either increasing or decreasing entitlement, benefits and budgetary supplements. While the real unemployment numbers are obviously manipulated, I think many of you are quite happy with your 99 weeks of unemployment compensation which subsidizes your under the table gray market jobs. I think many more of you have figured out that without having to get out of bed with the rest of us and go to work, you can comfortably shop at food pantries, talk to your relatives on your government phone, stay warm with heat subsidies, shop with EBT cards, care for your children with WIC, stay dry in subsidized housing and live quite comfortably off the system. With the available subsidies, food pantries, church and community programs and government entitlements, without ever working a minutes the comfortably unemployed can knock down the equivalent of a $40,000 per year job.

So, I think your hiding. And not very well. I think the government is lying. And not very well. And of course the mainstream media is complicit. And now that the election is over, we have no chance of catching you. You scam the system and cheat those who really need the assistance and will always vote for the hand that feeds you. And you are rewarded.

The System is yours. Congratulations. You have sold your dignity for economic slavery.

The Small Business ObamaCare Paradox – We always hurt the ones we love

Posted by PoliticallyUnEZ on December 5, 2012
Posted in: Conservative Business. Leave a comment

To a small business owner like myself who doesn’t think in terms of handouts and entitlements but only how best to keep a happy and productive workforce the precepts behind ObamaCare are mind bending.   Conversations similar to the one below are happening between business owners and their CPA / Tax Attorney / Insurance Agent and Financial Advisor are happening all across the country.  The results are historically predictable in that anytime the Social Mafia rears their head and attempts a class warfare end game to establishing a 2 class system, the ones they purport to want to protect, are always the ones who take it in the shorts.  The following was relayed to me, but could be and most assuredly is happening hundreds of times a day.

“My business provides jobs and income ( above minimum wage and a combination of hourly and salaried ) to about 120 people on any given day.  We employ mostly young americans, 20 to early 30 somethings.  We have historically provided partial 50% premium coverage for medical, dental and vision insurance to our employees but have managed the administration at no cost if they choose to add their spouse or dependents to their plan.  We also pay for the administration of an AFLAC and 401k plan.  Our employees have been happy, and we experience low turnover over for our industry even though there is rampant competition in our area.

And so comes Obamacare. What will now have to happen is a simply crazy game of mathematical gymnastics to maintain profitability which will drastically change forever our relationship with our employees due to the draconian redistributive mandates of the Affordable Care Act.

This is an example of the real world calculations that now come into play.

#1 – We have 120 employees so we know we will have to participate in the Affordable Care Act.

#2 – The next calculation is out how many full time employees we had.  Using the administration’s formula we established that we had 38 Full Time Equivalent employees by taking our total number of hours and dividing by 120 for the single month last year that had the highest number of employees on the books.  The 38 employees include 17 full time salaried managers and 21 hourly employees who are transient in varying degrees in that they are in college, considering their career, just out of high school, etc.

#3 – Since we would be liable for 75% of the 38 employees premiums, ( we pay 50% now ), and 66% of their dependents coverage, ( we pay zero now ) 38 is of course too high a number.  We know that immediately we need to cut down that number of Full Time hourly staff and since our organizations are field managed, the safest number to manage is zero full time hourly employees.  So immediately 21 employees who used to be fully employed by us will go to part time status, have to get second jobs, which will increase turnover, etc.  By capping all hourly employees at 28 hours per week, we eliminate the first part of the problem.  Will good employees leave us?  Maybe.  But I don’t know where to since EVERY business like ours in our service area is having the same conversations with their advisors as we are, so I don’t think competitively we miss a beat.

#4 – That will leave us with 17 Full Time Salaried employees.  ( Very few of them now participate in healthcare at all, but under O-Care we have to provide insurance to them unless we eliminate our insurance plan and pay the penalty .. )

$5 – BUT – If we eliminate our health coverage all together, these individuals can now go the exchange, and as a company we can take advantage of the 30 person exclusion on penalties and avoid the penalties all together.  (an interesting off shoot of this is that our revenue actually increase now that we will not be paying 50% of the healthcare premiums for these employees who “used to”  participate in our plan.)

And will THAT cause us a competitive disadvantage ?  Not really.   We actually provided more benefits to our employees than most so now we are competitive with everyone else who owns a business like ours and who is now doing the same thing and having the same planning conversations.

#6 – Now we are having a meeting with our Tax Attorney to discuss how to manage our income below the threshold of $250,000, perhaps buy more hard assets that we can sell in the Next Administration.  ”

I have an old saying that my Dad taught me over the years before he died well into his 90s.  He had seen a lot.   The REAL Poor will always be taken care of, the Rich and those in Business will always find a way – but the middle class, those easily ginned up by envy or greed become pawns in the Socialists Class Warfare strategy.  Historically they were called useful idiots.  The ones who really need to be protected from themselves, Always pay the price.